Story Engine Inc., an AI startup co-founded by Bangladeshi Stanford graduate Sheikh Srijon, has received $750,000 in pre-seed funding from the reputed venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z). The startup, founded by Sheikh Srijon, Zhizhuo Zhou, and Wanrong He, aims to revolutionise the realm of webtoon and anime creation through generative AI technology. 

The Story Engine platform allows users to create consistent, controllable characters and visual stories across multiple panels, solving key challenges faced by existing AI tools like Midjourney, says Srijon. "While 53% of Gen Z in the US watch anime, only a fraction of them have the tools to create their own visual stories," he says, explaining that his startup aims to democratise the creation of webtoons and anime, much like YouTube did for video content. 

According to Srijon, this funding will help the team scale their operational expenses while being able to train their AI models better. They also received Google Cloud credits worth $500k, which Srijon says helps extend the lifeline of any young startup. Furthermore, working with A16Z has provided Story Engine Inc. access to invaluable mentorship.

"Our group mentor Andrew Lee meets us for advice within a few hours of notice, despite selling two startups himself," says Srijon. Additionally, the startup is part of a larger A16Z community of 32 high-growth companies, allowing the founders to network and learn from some big names in tech, such as the creators of Tinder, Zynga, and League of Legends.

Growing up in Dhaka, Srijon completed his secondary education (SSC) before attending UWC Atlantic in the UK, eventually making his way to Stanford University, California to study computer science. While at Stanford, he co-founded Titans Education, a platform that has assisted over 100 students in gaining admission to top US colleges, as per Srijon. Titans Education emerged from the founder's firsthand experience of the lack of resources available to Bangladeshi students when applying for scholarships and universities abroad.

Following his success with Titans Education, Srijon pivoted toward AI-driven consumer apps. Together with his co-founders, he launched Glato.ai, an AI tool that transforms product URLs into 60-second TikTok commercials; earning attention by ranking #3 on Product Hunt, a popular platform for launching new products. However, the team's passion for building something with a broader consumer impact led them to focus on their latest venture, Story Engine Inc. According to Srijon, the founders' entrepreneurial journey and collective academic experience caught the attention of A16Z, one of the world's leading venture capital firms, known for its early investments in tech giants like Facebook, Instagram, and Lyft.

Regarding the application process, Srijon explains that they found the application form on LinkedIn. "There were two rounds of interviews where they asked us various questions about the idea, how we have worked together in the past, and what kind of progress we have made in our previous projects," he says, "Our investor told us that they would rather invest in unknown variables with high velocity than known variables with low velocity." As such, the founders showcased their rapid development of an AI marketing tool, which gained $2,000 in monthly recurring revenue and 20,000 monthly active users in three weeks. 

The alpha version of their product, www.komiko.app, is live for early testers. The startup has an active community on Discord, where users can engage, share their creations, and offer feedback. Building a strong community and developing intellectual property are key goals for the startup as it continues to develop its web and mobile apps.